Fragments
by Spacemin Spiff
Summary: When two lives combine and love is created, there will be endless moments when their love becomes truly alive. A series of CloudtailBrightheart snippets. Because I love this couple.
1. Scars

Disclaimer: The concept, characters, and any other recognisable things from the book aren't mine. If they were, I'd write a purely Brightheart/Cloudtail side story.

(A/N: In case you didn't read the dicription, it's a series of short Cloudpaw/tail and Brightpaw/Lostface/Brightheart stories, because this couple is way too underapreciated)

Scars. Scars meant old toms, beaten and wounded by the battles of long-ago moons, revealing their bravery through torn ears and broken tails. Their scarred faces are their trophies, something to be proud of.

She didn't have those kinds of scars.

Her scars meant an ugly name, though now forgotten by most, which left her broken in more ways than one. It meant his own mother staring in horror at her; it meant she could never be a full warrior, no matter how hard she tried.

But she was still beautiful.

Her dappled fur that glowed in the sunlight and felt soft to the touch, it still remained. Her bright smile and friendly words that was her namesake and her salvation, it still remained.

"You're beautiful you know. It doesn't really matter." He said. She purred in her melodic voice, a pure and simple thing that meant she loved him, and him her.

"I know." She mewed, softly and hopefully, as the sunset tinted her white and ginger fur a beautiful mix of amber and cinnamon. And even as the sun disappeared, and the light diminished, he could hear her silent breath, and picture her hopeful face. Yes, her scars meant bravery too, but of a different kind. A beautiful kind.

(A/N Whew. I know, I know, It's short, but I'm planning on doing more chapters, and ideas on subjects are apreciated, even if it's a one word idea.)


	2. Warmth

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, yadda yadda yadda. That really stinks yadda yadda yadda. The end.

He once hated leaf-bare.

The cold sensation that the snow brought to the ground, the constant pressure to hunt more. Bring in more fresh-kill. The memories it brought, of badgers and pain and Tigerclaw's hatred.

Then he started to notice her.

The way she looked at him, when she thought he didn't notice. The way her haunches moved and her paws shifted, slowly, when she hunted. The absolutely perfect balance of ginger and white that was her pelt, and the way she purred, so beautifully.

Then he started to like leaf-bare. For the solitary reason of her company.

In leaf-bare, when the diminutive amount of prey had been caught and eaten, he would linger for a while. As he watched the elders eat, and the others share tongues, he would sit, _they _would sit and try to keep warm. They were both to young, their kit-names still lingering in their memory, to understand what exactly they both felt, but they both felt something. And as a young Cloudpaw drifted off to sleep, his future mate already pressed against his flank, and her presence keeping him warm in the bitter weather, he caught a glimpse of what it was that they truly felt.

And it was love.

(A/N Thats right you lucky goobers, you got one heck of a speedy update. I'd like to thank my lovely reviewers, Hollycloud, Darkstorm of Mountainclan, and Tigerstripe. You guys rock my proverbial socks!)


	3. Faith

Faith

(A/N: Aaaaannnnnndddddd…. I'M BACK! All next week is spring break, so expect frequent updates. Also, the next chapter is kinda darkish, so this story will go up to T, but nothing worse then the books. Thanks to my lovely reviewers Tigerstripe and Frostpaw () you will be receiving your free tube-socks shortly .O)

Disclaimer: I still depend on my allowance for income, how likely is it that I own an acclaimed book series?

Every time he looked at the sky he broke her heart.

Every time he muttered under his breath, words that were never meant to be heard by her.

He didn't believe in Starclan, and it broke her heart, and though he soon repaired it with kind works and loving licks, the pain remained. A dull throb, and un-lickable wound. Sometimes, but with growing frequency, she would speak about it to him, within him, two souls bound by flesh to this earth. When she spoke, unexpectedly, he would try to believe. She knew he tried, she could hear it in his voice and his pawsteps, oh so tiered of being weighed down by his body.

But he couldn't.

She silently gazed up at silver pelt, and he followed her eyes, and they acted as one pair of eyes. Telescopes to something bigger then them. Bigger then simple things like fate and belief.

"Look, please," her voice was cracked like leaf bare and sad like midnight. "what do you see?" He sighed inside, and suddenly became all the more older, all the more tired.

"I see…a sky of lights." He began, and then looked suddenly saddened "But you… you see..." he faltered, and she leaned against him, for some things need not to be said.

"But you will see." she said, feeling herself too grow older with her words.

"I will." he nodded.

Their voices stopped.

Two tails entwined.

And somewhere in Starclan, a cat smiled.

A/N: In case you didn't know, this takes place when they are elders. The stories are in no particular order, so their age jumps around. Quick poll: Who wants me to explain their age and situation in my opening author's note?)


	4. Fear I

(A/N: Whos got three new reviews! I've got three new reviews! Whoot! Thankies to Brightfang, Frostpaw (), and the lovely Tigerstripe, who has reviewed all of my chapters so far. I present thee with adorably squishy Bluestar plushies! throws plushies at you forcibly, accidentally injuring you all Also, by a ravenous majority, they are both new parents at this time, but this part is mainly in flashbacks and such of when Brightheart was first injured. )

Disclaimer: I own a cat. She has the most adorable paws ever and I love her so, but she is not a book series.

She still remembered.

Pain, as teeth and claws raked her back and her face, as fear and blood united to become a smothering perfume. Sight and sound betrayed her, her attackers to vicious and numbered to comprehend. Thorns of pain drilled into her skull as the ground seemed to sway violently and rapidly, and rough words burned into her mind and her ears. She felt herself falling, drowning, in blood, her blood. Crimson like the earth, a violent river of coppery life, crimson like nothing on earth, crimson like nothing.

Nothing.

"_Why not?"_

"_Because Brightpaw, _we _should have been warriors. Starclan knows we deserve it more than _him_" Swiftpaw spat his last words, as if they were death berries in his mouth, poisoning him. She glanced back at Cloudtail as the other cats_ _watched him, silenly, awkwardly._

"Don't be dead Brighpaw, please don't be dead…"

"_Congratulations… you really do deserve to be a warrior." she muttered, shyly, as the other cats made way for her. He purred at her praise and they touched noses._

_And for a second, the rest of the world faded. The crowd of cats, calling his new name in celebration faded, and the very ground beneath their paws seemed to vanish. But the next moment, she was pushed away by another cat, and the world rushed back to fill the silence._

"Sleep well Brightpaw. You're still beautiful."

Pack… Pack…

"I don't,"

Kill… Kill…

"know where you,"

Pack. Pack.

"are now, but you have,"

Kill. Kill.

"to come back."

"_Congratulations… you really do deserve to be a warrior." _

(A/N: I know I know, a sort of weird cliffhanger thingy, but I've got the next part on the way, and a fluffy chapter after that, to make up for the semi-angst! Also, the stuff in italics is what happened when Cloudtail became a warrior, and two of the quotes not in italics are actually in the book.)


	5. Fear II

A/N: And now… the continuation you've all been waiting for! Thankies to Tigerstripe, Antonia Charlondra, Hollycloud, and Frostpaw () my FOUR (yeah, that's right, four reviews!) spiffy reviewers! This time I'm injuring your faces with… Cloudpaw plushies! For everyone who ever wanted to huggle that adorable Starclan-disbelieving, authority-pishawing apprentice, this is your chance! They are both still new parents, as you can tell by this chapter.)

Diclaimer: I'm having a yard sale, but I still don't think I'll be able to scrape up enough money to buy the series. Sorry.

But that was then, and this is now.

Now she lay in the nursery as her kit, _their kit _slept soundly next to her. Whitekit's beautiful white coat, so much like her father's, catching the sunlight that gleamed through the branches overhead. Now her mate Cloudtail licked her ears and told her he loved her, oh so much. Yet her memories hung over her head like low branches, threatening to fall down and crush her.

"What if she asks… about my face?" She said softly, licking the top of white kit's head, as if doubting the kit's existence.

"Then we will tell her what happened" He reassured her, pressing his flank against hers, gently and carefully. ",and she will see, like I do, that's it makes you braver and stronger than any warrior has ever been, and will ever be." He stopped, and for a while they were both content with simply watching their kit's flank rise and fall with her breath, and simply basked in the glory that was creating a new life.

"I heard you." She suddenly confessed, for reasons she couldn't full explain. "When it happed, you talked to me, I heard you." For a while he stayed silent, filled with an odd emotion.

"Where did you go?" He asked finally. "I… didn't know where you were, for a while, where were you?"

"I was…" She paused, not sure where she was either. "I was at the ceremony, when you became a warrior… I had to wonder, maybe if I had told you then, maybe I would have had a reason to stay. Maybe I wouldn't have been willing to try…"

There was a pause.

"You have a family now. You- _we _have a beautiful kit that will not lack anything from having you as a mother. Whitekit will grow up with understanding for things like what happened to you. And someday… she will fall in love, like I did with you, and she will have a family of her own."

She listened to him speak, and started to believe herself. She licked Whitekit once more on the top of her head, and let herself relax.

That night, no dark giants haunted her sleep, only the gaze of her mate.

(A/N: Yup, an anti-climactic completely cliché ending. Huzzaar! Also, I'd like to take a little time to thank Frost paw (), my anonymous reviewer. I can't reply to your reviews like the others, but I appreciate them just as much!)


	6. Growth

(A/N: In this chapter Brightheart is adorably preggers with whitekit! It's also my nice fluff-filled chapter to make up for the last chapter's slightly depressing-atude-ness…. Ness. YEAH! I regret to say that I have no plushies for Antonia Charlondra and Frostpaw (), because Tigerstripe mugged me of all but one Cloudpaw plushie and Brackenfur used the horror that was kitty-eyes to claim the last remaining Cloudpaw plushie. The rest of you must all make do with five pounds of gold bars each. I apologise. )

Disclaimer: Wait, why didn't I use the gold bars to buy the series! I'm such an idiot.

She reminded him of a flower.

He told her this, as the sunlight of new-leaf filtered through the branches overhead, and she denied it and turned her head to hide her embarrassment. He insisted she did, so she contemplated it as her mate licked her ear, and she asked why. And in this moment of comfortable silence he considered his answer and admired her coat, the color of snow and ginger. She sat with him, and shared in his moment of thought, until suddenly he said that she wasn't like a flower.

She was much better.

She nudged him with her head in mock-annoyance, and reminded him that they were sent out to hunt, not to flirt. He purred and told her that it was new-leaf, finally new-leaf, and that prey was in abundance. He licked her shoulder, and she attempted to remind him curtly that they should still make the most of this time, but her voice betrayed her.

He mock-agreed that they should, and how foolish they were to be lazing about, because soon they would not be able to hunt together… Because I'll be in the nursery, she finished, and the back of his mind told him that he was acting like a young kit, but he didn't care. She brushed her flank against his, and told him that he will be an excellent father. He swelled with pride and they leaned against each other, as the life and the hope that was new-leaf surrounded them.

(A/N: Meh. I'm not as happy with this chapter as I'd like too be, but I'm still okay with it. And ideas for future chapters will be appreciated, and consumed with


	7. Admiration

(A/N: SORRY for the late update! I grovel and fell shame in your presence my oh-so-wonderful readers. GROVEL! But now that's over with, big thanks for my reviewers Frostpaw (), Scribbler Kitty, Tigerstripe, and Hollycloud who reviewed the last chapter. Takes place with them as apprentices before what happened to poor Brightheart. Which reminds me, Brightheart plushies for all! (somehow manages to nearly kill you all by gently tossing fluffy plushies at you) DARN MY ODD ABILITY TO INJURE PEOPLE!)

Disclaimer: Maybe I'll get the Warriors series for Easter? But for now, I no own. You no sue. You give me massive amounts of chocolate. Comprende?

She was beautiful.

As the moon started to rise and the sun's last colors drained from the sky, he watched her. Sleeping. Her pelt rose and fell with her breath and he was tempted, not for the first time, to touch it. To see if it was as soft as he imagined it, to see if she would fade away like a beautiful vision and her colors would bleed into the earth like a beautiful rainbow.

What was it?

Why did his breath fail him and his paws tingle at her approach? When did she become so beautiful, so precious? How had his fellow apprentice blossomed, transformed, into the cat he saw before him?

Oh, how she planted such beautiful visions inside his mind.

Of being alone, together, as if they were the only ones in the world. Visions of a young kit, their kit together. He and his mate. He with this un-earthly creature, so beautiful.

He could only wait and see.

Did he know?

Could he tell?

Was he aware of the spells he had cast on her, wreaking dysfunction onto her mind and her heart? Did he know how his presence, or merely his name, caused her fur to prickle and her sight to haze? Starclan above was he ever wonderful.

Ever brave.

Ever wonderfully infuriatingly rebellious.

Only a miracle provided by Starclan could have ever created him. Her mind reeled at the near impossibility that he could have ever ended up here, with her. That he was brought here, by chance of being first born to Fireheart's sister, in order to confuse her and confound her and make her life so horribly wondrous.

Others hated him.

And how her eyes burned and her stance hardened when they mocked him. "Kittypet" they called him. Even now, when only a few cats called him so, it made her furious. That someone could insult a cat so perfect. So amazing. A cat she wanted to spend her life with and die with and have kits with.

She had always loved kits.

She will always love him.

(A/N: That's right, two, count 'em TWO perspectives in this baby! My confidence is mainly restored, thanks to much love from reviewers, but I'd like to note that constructive criticism would be appreciated. Just be gentle, truthfully I'm bad at dealing with criticism, but I promise I won't think bad of you. I really want to improve, but I may ignore some criticism because it's just the style of my writing to write like that. If you like this couple, I'd recomend Dewfrost's "Warrior Couples", which has a Cloudtail/Brightheart chapter. It's beter then the name isninuates, really. Also, I haven't read the new Warriors book yet, so no spoilers please!)


	8. Loss

(A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers: Frost paw (congrats on the new account!), Brackenfur_1, _Tigerstripe, and Dewflower. For making me feel all fuzzy inside! I'm kinda drained at the moment, so beware, as I may have slower updates then usual! But keep the faith! Soon it'll be Summer, Huzzar! Just the though puts me on a plushie hurling rampage! (pulls out a plushie cannon from… somewhere… and starts firing warrior plushies everywhere) Plushies for you all! (somehow doesn't harm any of you, even though the most gentle plushie dispersion used to cause pain and havoc) Either you guys have developed tougher skin or I'm in the twilight zone 0.o )

Disclaimer: Sadly, all my Easter basket held was candy. No series. Darn.

Each battle whispered to her.

Every injury, however small, ringed in her ears until she felt like her very skull was shaking with the vibrations it made. The ripples it made, like ripples on a pond, caused by a swiping paw, ready to take it away. Take him away. To steal her mate and her guardian and her love away from her.

Death was like the dogs.

It preyed on everything, the birds and the mice and cats like her, cats like him. A shadowy creature in the undergrowth, stalking, waiting, ready.

Death is the reason that after a battle, when she spotted him against the pelts of her fellow victors… or losers… she ignored her own pain and saw only his. Death is the reason that she would wake up at night with her eyes wild and her fur prickling and yowling, and he would misunderstand her fear as that for herself.

Nothing was farther from the truth.

Because ripples only grow bigger, never smaller.

He was her everything, and even though she knew he would die in an instant for her, she wanted to pretend her wouldn't. That he wouldn't die. But most of all that he would never die for her. For her broken face that he loved, for her only eye that he said was more beautiful than any two eyes.

He always told her that they would be warriors together, despite her injury.

And there they are, two warriors, ready to fight to the death for their clan and their mate.

If only he wasn't so loyal.

If only ripples stayed small.

(A/N: Props to Dewflower for giving me an inspiration! And to Tigerclaw, whose over-enthusiasm made me giddy with joy! And again, thanks to ALL my reviewers, I appreciate all of y' all! Huggles for all! (bone crushing bear hug) )


	9. Detail

Detail

(A/N: Because it seems that no one wants to critique this fic, could you at least show me you appreciate the actual chapter? I mean "Good chapter, update soon!" is nice, but could you guys go a little deeper? I know I'm lucky to even be getting reviews, but take the time to look for specific things you like or don't like, okay? In other news, they're both parents now, but nothing else specific. With that out of the way, lets hear it for my reviewers: Tigerstripe, Brackenfur1, Rippedstar, Frostpaw, and Leopardheart! PLUSHIES FOR ALL! (shot-puts Yellowfang plushies all around, because who doesn't love that senile old cat?) Now on to the… erm… disclaimer!)

Disclaimer: I don't own the series. If I did then no one would like it, nonetheless write fan fictions about it. So suing me will only get you five dollars and maybe my cat, but you'd have to be investigated sixty two times by the ASCAP, as well as defeat me in armed combat and sign a contract stating that you wouldn't so much as breath on her the wrong way in order to even pet her. Ahem.

It was the little things that killed him.

The small details, things that remind him of what happened and what it means and what it doesn't.

When she turned her head to look at him or their kit or any other thing that he could gaze at so easily, through her one good eye. One. The other broken and lost beyond repair that meant that she had to put effort into simply looking at things, something he took for granted.

When their kit was still growing inside her, and she was afraid that she would look different. That she would be born with the same face that her mother had. He told her not to be so mouse-brained, he told her that Starclan would give them a kit that was the most beautiful kit in the forest. A kit that was just like any other cat. He couldn't bear to say 'normal'. That would mean that _she_ was abnormal. Sub-par. Not the most glorious cat that has ever breathed and walked on this earth. Not the greatest cat in existence.

Because to him she was that, and more.

When she would ask him to sit on one side of her. Her 'good side'. Her 'normal side'. When she would say that she was embarrassed that he would see her 'broken' side. That he would look at it in horror, even though he loved her face. Both sides of her face. The face that he loved and he cherished and that belonged to his mate. His beautiful, beautiful mate.

It was the little things that he loved.

When they battled the other clans until they could barely remember what they were fighting about, and she was beside him. The smoldering look in her eye as she faced and defeated cats in their prime. With full faces and strong muscles, so confident that she would be an easy opponent, with her one good eye and her lean structure. He loved when she drove them off with their ears and their tail low. He loved her triumphant yowl.

He loved knowing that this is what she wanted to do and that no matter what has happened to her she was doing it.

He loved when Whitekit would swell up with pride as she told the other apprentices that she was going to grow up _just like _her mother. When she first asked Brightheart about the other cat's faces.

"Did something happen to them? All of their faces are all messed up! Why?"

How she purred in amusement at this and he joined her and Whitekit looked up at them with a puzzled expression.

The little things tortured him every day.

But he wouldn't give them up for the world.

(A/N: One last thing to bother you guys with, I've got new braces. Bleh. Which means that all I've been eating for about a day, two if you count today, is fruit milkshakes, drinkable yogurt and… well… erm… nothing else really. Any advice? My friends are all done with their braces (I got mine late) and can't help besides tell me horror stories. And I know what to _not _do, but they should really give you a pamphlet on what you can eat. They've already banned chewy and crunch stuff, so I don't even know what kind of textures I can eat! But enough about me. Did y' all enjoy spring break?)


	10. Sport

(A/N: Howdy whatever scattered audience I have left from my long absense! Ahem. This takes place after Lostface's (Wahh! ;.;) attack, when she and Cloudtail are trying to develop some fighting moves for her. Huzzarma! Thankies to my reviewers: Twitcherz, Rippedwhisker, Scribblerkitty, Holycloud (pant pant), Leopardheart, Dewfrost, anndddd Brackenfur1. And my double reviewers: Tigerstripe, Waffles-are-after-me, Frostpaw, and Dewflower. May your houses be forever sturdy and your bookshelves be never empty!)

Disclaimer: For all I know, the rights to the Warriors series may be in my room! It's too darn messy to tell.

Pain shot through his side as he fell to the dull earth, again, another attack failed.

And he had never been so happy to be in pain in his life.

She padded up to him, triumphantly, and the scarce light of dawn nearly hid the scars trailing across one side of her face. Nearly. He moaned in mock-pain and she purred playfully and batted at his ears with sheathed claws. He pounced on her and they tumbled into the mid-lit grass like sparring kits, as the sights and the smells of his world bombarded him.

GrassDirtSkyBirdsJoyAirHimHer..

Her.

And for a moment nothing else mattered. The new threat disappeared. The fear and the pain and the intoxicating unknown faded. It was him and it was her and nothing could penetrate that. She stood over him, pearls of dew collected on her ears and wetting her fur, nearly shaking with her purrs of laughter. He lay beneath her, filled with the indescribable urge to lick the dew off of her beautiful, beautiful, ears.

She removed herself from his chest. He slowly got up. Their purrs subsided.

Slowly, painfully, the world returned, and his own moistened fur started to sag. They sat together, still sucking in air in a losing battle to regain their breath. He made a small, awkward sound, and she licked her shoulder nervously.

"You're getting really good at fighting…" He said quietly, kneading the ground with his paws.

"I have a great teacher." She responded, flicking water from her ears.

They grew silent, and the forest seemed to hold its breath. She looked back at the camp, and he realized faintly that soon cats would be wondering where they were. She looked back to him, and him her, and he suddenly realized how close they were. She seemed to lean closer to him, and he vaguely wondered why.

Their noses touched.

LovePainEarthDewHer.

She drew back, reluctantly (though he didn't know it then), and with a last laughing purr and a glance back at him, she turned and bounded through the forest back to camp. Leaving him with a tingling nose and a reeling mind and too many thoughts to comprehend at once, thought the most prominent ones were to the effect of "That was great."

Fireheart was going to kill him for being away from camp this long.

(A/N: Tah-dah! I hope it was worth the antagonizing wait (nervous motions)... Ahem. In other news, I got a brush for my cat, it's nifty and she sheds way less. I recommend it for cat owners... that was really random... O.o)


	11. Rain

(A/N:I'd like to start out by thanking my reviewers; Brackenfur1, Dewfrost, Jaguarspots (new reviewer! Huzlarky!), and Frostpaw. Your devotion makes me weep. I have no idea where that came from. Anywhoo. Leafpool plushies all around! And one for Dewflower, because she asked so nicely and creep-a-ly. This sucker takes place at any random time after they defeated the ebil o' the dogs. Pick a time, any time, just don't let me see it! ahem.)

Disclaimer: Do I own the Warriors series? Of course I do. (lawyers branish their heavy briefcases threateningly) I mean- NO no series here chitlins, just good old fasioned pie! (randomly aquires pie) (lawyers stare)

She was alone when it rained.

She was alone and she was cold on the days like this when the water rained down from Starclan in an unrelenting way and melted the world into a dull sleep. The pawsteps of all other cats faded, and the ground was suddenly marked only by her. She looked up at the air and the clouds and the nothing-but-sad and was suddenly aware of her skin. Of the crawling way the moisture in the air and from the air melted over her, and of the way that it felt oh-so particular on her face.

She was alone and she was broken and it was raining.

Even when she folded her ears down and closed her eye tightly and put down her head, even when she immersed herself in the roar of her mind and the sounds of the forest, she felt alone.

On the first day he went away it rained.

The days he spent with her were ecstasy, in a way that nearly _nearly _made her forget her pain. She would look into his face and suck his image up gluttonously as he brought her back from her darkness and her injury and the pack. He spent every second he could afford with her, and in their secret epochs of love and deliverance, he would call her Brightface; and she would muse on how beautiful it sounded when he said it.

But as others saw it, she wasn't a good enough reason to be excused from his duties.

He left on his first warrior's hunt, she watched him leave camp, and it rained.

However, he walked next to her now. Their flanks brushed and her mind clinged to him, clinged to his image and their laughter and their love as she opened her eye and fought to hold on to him. He licked her tattered ear and told her all of the things that she wanted to hear and needed to hear, and the things that can't be written or spoken with silly words and common phrases.

_She waited for him to come back from patrol as the millions of things that could happen to him played through her mind. She halfway-thanked Starclan for the fact that the rain hid her tears as she ventured carefully to the edge of camp to watch for him. Something asked her why she cared so much for him, the ridiculous once-apprentice who acted odd around her and was constantly in trouble. Something else didn't care why._

The two came back later, laden with prey and soaked to the bone. Him licking her ears softly, her pading heavily and slowly.

No one thought to ask what had taken them so long.

"_I told you I would come back," he purred, gently, as they sat together and he cleaned her pelt. She paused silently, trying to find the right words for the fear and the torment he had put her through by leaving her for even a small while. _

"_I love you Cloudtail." She settled on._

"_I love you Brightface."_

"I love you Brightheart."

"I love you Cloudtail."

It was raining.

She was with him and she was whole and it was raining.

As it should be.

(A/N: Let's say it together shall we? Awwwwww... ahem. If it matters to any of y' all the reason my updates are so sluggish is because I'm feeling pretty darn deppressed. No real reason for it 0.o Pity will be discarded into a landfill that contains a rabid goat that enjoys devouring pity. A cruel cruel fate for your pity (shakes head) Remember kiddies, don't waste your pity...es... ahem.)


	12. One

(A/N; Inspired by Feat's "muse teaser" #76, wild mint. Big love to: Wrenpaw (ask Dewflower about the Brightface thing), Creamtail, Foxpace, Rosetail's loyalty (Ha ha! but I shall hit your LEGS!), Frostpaw, Leopardheart, Flamefrost, Twitcherz, Dewflower and whoever is reading this story without reviewing, you loveable bums! German chocolate and Purdy plushies for all! (shoots them around like a sprinkler, managing to chocolate in everyone's eye eyes and injure their extremities with the plushie goodness) this takes place pretty much any thime after her injury, not directly after, but when their a bit older.)

Disclaimer: All _I _have to say is that the universe in general is pretty darn lucky that I don't own the Warriors series!

She could see at twilight.

When she bounded through the grass and the wild mint until she could barely recognize her own scent underneath the forest's perfumes…

That's when she saw the world. With him.

She had half forgotten when they started doing this, when they started bounding aimlessly through the forest, faster and faster, as if trying to outrun something. She didn't know what he tried to outrun, that is to say, she didn't try to find out. Even now, especially now, they reserved the right to have their own separate mysteries. Their own scandals and their own flaws, the things that kept them up at night… And in this they were alone.

But they shared their joys. Simple joys, yes, but this was all about simplicity.

_Thunderpath, turn around. Don't stop. Don't stop. We can make this last a little longer._

The feeling of the grasses of the forest, underneath their feet, the wind in their fur, worrying their ears… And they were one. Their strides and their emotions and their mind were one on deeper planes than they had never before knew they had.

_Sleep forest, don't wake up, don't wake up. Make this last longer. I _need_ it to be longer._

And they could see. Two blue orbs met with one green, and they gained sight. Into Starclan, and perhaps beyond it, into the sky where they hunted. And the depth and the magnitude of the world crashed down onto her so violently that she almost stumbled, almost, because if she stumbled they would lose it. The vibrant newness would fade into the sky an they would have two strides, two heartbeats, two separate joys.

_Riverclan border, turn around, go around, anything, something, just make this longer._

She wasn't sure whose sights she was seeing, whose thoughts she was thinking, but she says they are his and believes they are his and they are his. And in a grand finale of sorts, the ground disappeared and the world disappeared and they both disappeared into the wind.

One gust together.

Free.

_I want this to last longer. I _need_ this to last longer._

But it doesn't.

And suddenly she was very tired, and her paws burned, and she felt them separate into the world until she had only one eye, only one sight. They slowed to a stop and their breathing deepened, two separate breaths.

But they still felt a tingle that made their hair stand on end, and their heartbeats still beat as one, so they weren't beyond their own salvation. Yet.

She sat down in the silent and thankful grass.

He licked her cheek.

And they both started to cry.

(A/N; First thing's first, whiny excuse for not updating: Finals, Just... Finals. Anyone who has ever taken them knows what I mean X.x This muse thingy really helps though, but it isn't updated... does anyone know of a good one that updates? Or, I can give you the link to my muse tickler thing! Anywho, hope you liked it!)


	13. Sick

Disclaimer: Unless I'm finding it under my Chirstmas tree, I don't own the warriors series or plan to in the future.

(A/N: First a tree fell onto my house and then I lost internet for a month and had to use the school computers and then another tree fell. FORGIVE ME!!! TT TT Thankyouthankyouthankyou to my reviewers: Dewflower, Doxeh, Frostpaw, foxpace, Saf Dawnheart, Sword of light and Waffles-r-after-me . You all get feathertail plushies. With real feathers. Cuz I'm crazy. Theme: "Sick" Mood music: "Dance Inside")

Sick

Sick is:

What stays with you. Sick is what

keeps you awake at night when you look at the moon and wonder if it's any different now than it was then.

Sick is when you miss the thrush again and no one speaks up about it because they know you're different and you would rather be made fun of than stared at in pity. When you wake up and see your paws grasping for something, but your dreaming spills out of your mind and onto the stone and you don't know what you're grasping for. Sick is:

Sick.

Sick is when every drop of blood reminds you of that day and every cry of battle makes your mind scream at you to stop. Sick is when you can't look at yourself in the water anymore and every smile is just a shard of something like bone but softer. Sick is having a blind spot that hasn't a border and seems to grow every day. Sick is when you feel so small, even on the good days, and like you really shouldn't have been the one that lived. Sick is when you remember the sinking fluttering when he told you he loved you but you know you loved someone else.

Sick is:

Sick

but worse. Sick is when he looks at you and can't tell that you're sick because his eyes are clouded with something like love, and you want to cry because you should have been whole for him. Sick is at clan meetings and the other clan kits stare but yours bounds along freely and doesn't see the Sick.

Sick is when people avoid you like you are and every fourth hello comes without a smile. Sick is when you fly away into your mind and have to leave the others because you know you're going somewhere that they can't even comprehend.

Sick is sick.


	14. Twist

(A/N: Thank's a gazillion for my speedy-update inspiring reviewers: Nameless Nightmare, Doxeh, Saf Dawnheart, and Frostpaw (my 70th reviever!) (gets out plushie bazooka) WHO WANTS SQUIRRELTAIL PLUSHIES!?! Post dog attack, because Brightheat isn't as innocent as we think she is. Theme: Twist)

She knows what she does to him.

She knows what it does to him when she stops in front of him and bends her head back to flatten the fur on her shoulder with her tongue and looks at him.

She knows how his fur prickles when she kinks her tail and swivels her ears and places her paws in invisible spaces. She knows how he turns his head and gets yowled at by Fireheart when she bounds next to him and bends her head upwards just enough to look nonchalant and her paws have wings.

She knows what she does

when:

She unfurls her tail in a line of blotching white and ginger like the marriage of winter and summer and looks at him like she doesn't know why he's staring.

She knows what she does and she likes what it says.

She knows that when he brings a mouse to her and the other cats glare at what they see and she looks at him quizzically he feels like his face is on fire.

She knows that when he doesn't turn around to the call of "Kittypet" that he's enamored with her.

She knows what she does to him.

And she likes what it say to

him.

So she'll linger just a bit to long and purr a bit to loud until she stops understanding "what" and finally finds the "why".

She knows what she does to him.


	15. Fix

Fix-

(A/N: First off: A thousand thanks to each and every person who reviewed this story. You all mean so much to me for supporting me, encouraging me, brightening my day. I have stopped following the warriors series, unfortunately, because it was getting a bit convoluted for my tastes, and the small snipets of Couldtail and Brightheart were not enough. This is the reason I have not updated in a long time, and I am very sorry. I'll have to say this will be the last chapter of the story, although nothing is impossible.

A million plushies for all of you! )

Brightheart watched the sky.

No.

She did not watch, she stared. She begged, she wanted an answer, implored the stars for one. She wanted this sky to resemble exactly the one over Thundercamp. She wanted to peer over the looming walls of stone, the long dark gash in the earth where they were expected to spend the rest of their lives, and see the same stars. The exact same stars. But she realized, with horror, that she couldn't be certain if they were the same or different. Why hadn't she paid more attention to them before…?

Before the destruction, before the twoleg invasion, before she had been locked away in the sinister coldness of a twoleg cage.

She shivered at the memory of it, of being helpless, uncertain. Then the joy of seeing Cloudtail, their mutual horror when the cage would not yield to their pressing need to be safe with each other again, and the second ecstasy of escape, even at the loss of Graystripe.

Cloudtails paws padded softly over the stone, carrying him to where his mate rested.

"Brightheart…" She looked over at him, then back up.

"Cloudtail… I feel… like we've lost so much…" She hung her head. He licked the soft fur behind her ear kindly, rubbing against her.

"I know… but… we will survive." He said it as if proclaiming it to the world. "Besides… the sky… Starclan…" he struggled once more, with his beliefs as much as his disbeliefs "…will follow us wherever we go."

"…I miss… home…"

"…this is our home now. My home, your home, Whitekit's home…"

"…but our last home… the feeling of the soft ground and the old boundaries…I can't help but feel that… we'll never have it back…"

He looked over at her playfully "I can fix that feeling." She couldn't stop a purr of amusement, and he flicked him tail, touching his nose to hers.

"I love you." She nuzzled up against him.

"I love you too. Forever. Wherever. I love you." He licked her tattered ear, and she closed her eyes.


End file.
